A system and method are provided which accept orders from customers located at distributed locations, manages the ordering process by presenting a consolidated invoice to the seller, allows the seller to indicate which items are being paid along with a reason code for items for which payment is being withheld, accepts a consolidated payment, and allocates that payment to the appropriate selling subsidiary. In general, one or more orders are received from a buyer in which each of the orders corresponds to at least one seller subsidiary. The orders are consolidated into a consolidated invoice. The consolidated invoices are then made available to the buyer. An indication is received from the buyer as to which of the orders a payment is being approved. The payment, once received, is allocated to a corresponding at least one seller subsidiary for which the payment has been made.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method for ordering and payment allocation for a seller and a buying entity, the seller having a plurality of subsidiaries, and the buying entity having a plurality of buyers, the method comprising the acts of: receiving, at an ordering and payment allocation system, a plurality of orders comprising at least one order from more than one of the plurality of buyers associated with a buying entity, the plurality of orders corresponding to more than one subsidiary of the seller; using a computer processor, consolidating, at the ordering and payment allocation system, the plurality of orders for the buying entity into a consolidated invoice comprising particulars on the orders of the plurality of buyers associated with the buying entity; making the consolidated invoice available to the buying entity; receiving, at the ordering and payment allocation system, an indication from the buying entity as to which of the orders a payment is approved and which orders are disputed or excepted; receiving, at the ordering and payment allocation system, an aggregated payment from the buying entity; using the computer processor, disaggregating the aggregated payments by associating portions of the aggregated payment with an approved order and a corresponding subsidiary; using the computer processor, allocating the portions of each of the aggregated payments to the corresponding subsidiary for which the payment has been made; gathering A/R data and information based on the payments to subsidiaries, approved orders or the disputed or excepted orders; providing the A/R data and information to the seller; using the computer processor, performing a consolidated receivables process to gather payment data into consolidated receivables data for a single report; and using the computer processor, matching the consolidated receivables data to an outstanding sub-invoice file, and providing the matched data to the seller.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the orders are received electronically.
3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the orders are received via the Internet.
4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the act of evaluating a received order against at least one of a spending limit corresponding to the buying entity and an available credit limit corresponding to the buying entity to determine whether to book the received order.
5. The method according to claim 4 , further comprising the acts of: booking those received orders which have been evaluated as not exceeding the evaluated spending limits; and creating a receivable entry in a seller account receivable system.
6. The method according to claim 5 , further comprising the act of executing one or more off-balance sheet processes.
7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the consolidation act is comprised of the acts of sorting and compiling the booked orders to create a single invoice.
8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the compiling act includes formatting booked orders received from different buying entities into a common format.
9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the consolidated invoice includes sub-invoice data, sub-invoice data being data which corresponds to booked orders placed by a respective buyer.
10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the sub-invoice data is transmitted to the respective buyer.
11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the act of making the consolidated invoice available includes at least one of: sending an electronic message to the buying entity to notify the buying entity of an availability of the consolidated invoice; distributing a paper statement to the buying entity; and transmitting the consolidated invoice to the buying entity.
12. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the act of displaying the consolidated invoice on a buyer terminal, wherein the buyer indicates approval of sub-invoice items corresponding to the consolidated invoice using the buyer terminal.
13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the indication includes the act of entering a code corresponding to a reason payment is being approved or denied for a sub-invoice item.
14. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising the act of using the buyer terminal to authorize payment to the seller.
15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the payment is received via one of an automated clearing house, a wire transfer, a lock box, a foreign exchange trade, electronic cash, netting via the Internet, an electronic wallet and a check.
16. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the act of updating a payment master database, the payment master database comprising records having: a payment date; a payment method; a payment reference; a payment amount; a from currency; a to currency; f/x, tax and fee data; a distribution status; and an amount distributed.
17. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the act of processing the received aggregated payment.
18. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising: providing complete accounts receivable processing, comprising the acts of: receiving the matched data; applying the merged and consolidated receivables data to create accounts receivable and general ledger update data; and updating a general ledger corresponding to the seller.
19. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the payment data gathered into the single report during the consolidated receivables process is received from a plurality of service providers.
20. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the allocation act is comprised of the acts of: disaggregating the received payment to associate portions of the received payment with one or more selling sub-entities; processing the received payment to update an accounts receivable system; generating at least one funding report; delivering the at least one funding report to the respective sub-entities; and transferring the disaggregated funds to financial accounts for the corresponding sub-entities.
21. The method according to claim 20 , wherein the funding report generation act is comprised of the act of updating a payment master database to reflect a distribution status and amount distributed to the corresponding subsidiary.
22. The method according to claim 21 , wherein the funding report comprises: a list of sub-invoice items included in the distribution; a payment date; results of exception and dispute processing; sub-invoice details; and reason codes.
23. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the allocation act includes the acts of: determining an incremental funding amount; funding a subsidiary corresponding to a holding account via a foreign exchange if the incremental funding amount equals or exceed a predetermined total when combined with a holding account amount; and allocating the incremental funding amount to the holding account amount when the incremental funding amount is less than the predetermined total when combined with the holding account amount.
24. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of assigning a unique reference number to the consolidated invoice to enable tracking and invoice management.
25. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of determining before the order is booked whether the at least one buyer is able to effect payment.
26. The method of claim 1 , wherein the consolidated invoice is received before or contemporaneous with an aggregated payment on the approved orders.
27. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aggregated payment comprises a payment to two or more subsidiaries of the seller.
28. A storage medium storing computer executable programmatic code for an order management system for a seller and a buying entity, the seller having a plurality of subsidiaries, and the buying entity having a plurality of buyers, which, when executed, performs the acts of: receiving, at the order management system, a plurality of orders comprising at least one order from more than one of the plurality of buyers associated with a buying entity, the plurality of orders corresponding to more than one subsidiary of the seller; consolidating, the order management system, the plurality of orders for the buying entity into a consolidated invoice comprising particulars on the orders of the plurality of buyers associated with the buying entity; making the consolidated invoice available to the buying entity; receiving, at the order management system, an indication from the buying entity as to which of the orders a payment is approved and which orders are disputed or excepted; receiving, at the ordering and payment allocation system, an aggregated payment from the buying entity; disaggregating the aggregated payments by associating portions of the aggregated payment with an approved order and a corresponding subsidiary; allocating the portions of each of the aggregated payments to the corresponding subsidiary for which the payment has been made; gathering A/R data and information based on the payments to subsidiaries, approved orders or the disputed or excepted orders; providing the A/R data and information to the seller; performing a consolidated receivables process to gather payment data into consolidated receivables data for a single report; and matching the consolidated receivables data to an outstanding sub-invoice file, and providing the matched data to the seller.
29. The storage medium according to claim 28 , wherein the orders are received electronically.
30. The storage medium according to claim 29 , wherein the orders are received via the Internet.
31. The storage medium according to claim 29 , wherein the code, when executed, further performs the act of evaluating the received order against at least one of a spending limit corresponding to the buyer's and an available credit limit corresponding to the buying entity to determine whether to book the order.
32. The storage medium according to claim 31 , wherein the code, when executed, further performs the acts of: booking those received orders which have been evaluated as not exceeding the evaluated spending limits; and creating a receivable entry in a seller account receivable system.
33. The storage medium according to claim 32 , wherein the code, when executed, further performs the act of executing one or more off-balance sheet processes.
34. The storage medium according to claim 28 , wherein the consolidation act is comprised of the acts of sorting and compiling the booked orders to create a single invoice.
35. The storage medium according to claim 34 , wherein the compiling act includes formatting booked orders received from different buying entities into a common format.
36. The storage medium according to claim 28 , wherein the consolidated invoice includes sub-invoice data, sub-invoice data being data which corresponds to booked orders placed by a respective buyer.
37. The storage medium according to claim 36 , wherein the sub-invoice data is transmitted to the respective buyer.
38. The storage medium according to claim 28 , wherein the act of making the consolidated invoice available includes at least one of: sending an electronic message to the buying entity to notify the buying entity of an availability of the consolidated invoice; distributing a paper statement to the buying entity; and transmitting the consolidated invoice to the buying entity.
39. The storage medium according to claim 28 , wherein the code, when executed, further performs the act of displaying the consolidated invoice on a buyer terminal, wherein the buyer indicates approval of sub-invoice items corresponding to the consolidated invoice using the buyer terminal.
40. The storage medium according to claim 39 , wherein the buyer's approval indication includes the act of entering a code corresponding to a reason payment is being approved or denied for a sub-invoice item.
41. The storage medium according to claim 39 , wherein the code, when executed, further performs the act of using the buyer terminal to authorize payment to the seller.
42. The storage medium according to claim 28 , wherein the payment is received via one of an automated clearing house, a wire transfer, a lock box, a foreign exchange trade, electronic cash, netting via the Internet, an electronic wallet and a check.
43. The storage medium according to claim 28 , wherein the code, when executed, further performs the act of updating a payment master database, the payment master database comprising records which include: a payment date; a payment method; a payment reference; a payment amount; a from currency; a to currency; f/x, tax and fee data; a distribution status; and an amount distributed.
44. The storage medium according to claim 28 , wherein the code, when executed, further performs the act of processing the received aggregated payment.
45. The storage medium according to claim 28 , further comprising: providing complete accounts receivable processing, comprising the acts of: receiving the matched data; applying the merged and consolidated receivables data to create accounts receivable and general ledger update data; and updating a general ledger corresponding to the seller.
46. The storage medium according to claim 28 , wherein the payment data gathered into the single report during the consolidated receivables process is received from a plurality of service providers.
47. The storage medium according to claim 28 , wherein the code, when executed, further performs an allocation act comprising the acts of: disaggregating the received payment to associate portions of the received payment with one or more selling sub-entities; processing the received payment to update an accounts receivable system; generating at least one funding report; delivering the at least one funding report to the respective sub-entities; and transferring the disaggregated funds to financial accounts for the corresponding sub-entities.
48. The storage medium according to claim 47 , wherein the funding report generation act is comprised of the act of updating a payment master database to reflect a distribution status and amount distributed to the corresponding subsidiary.
49. The storage medium according to claim 48 , wherein the funding report comprises at least one of: a list of sub-invoice items included in the distribution; a payment date; results of exception and dispute processing; sub-invoice details; and reason codes.
50. The storage medium according to claim 28 , wherein the code, when executed, further performs an allocation act that includes the acts of: determining an incremental funding amount; funding a subsidiary corresponding to a holding account via a foreign exchange if the incremental funding amount equals or exceed a predetermined total when combined with a holding account amount; and allocating the incremental funding amount to the holding account amount when the incremental funding amount is less than the predetermined total when combined with the holding account amount.
51. The storage medium of claim 28 wherein the programmatic code further performs the act of assigning a unique reference number to the consolidated invoice to enable tracking and invoice management.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
March 6, 2000
September 28, 2010
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